By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

8:00 am to 1:30 pm

It was a very cold, morning.  When I left my house, it was 19 degrees.  But the sun was shining and it was Sunday.  My favorite day to Falcon Watch.

As I was going out to my car, I was greeted by the beautiful song of a gorgeous red Cardinal singing to his lady.  Spring was in the air!  When his lady took off, he followed.

It was after 8:00 am, when I met up with Larry and Harold on the Broad St Bridge (BSB).  Larry pointed out Dot.ca (DC) on the top arm of the jail communication tower (JCT) and Beauty on Camera 1 (aka pan cam) on the Times Square Bldg (TSB).

First DC, then Beauty took off heading west.  Larry had to leave, so I headed over to Aqueduct St, aka “the hole”.  While I was down there, Dot.ca flew up to the base of Mercury and copulated with Beauty.  I didn’t even know she was there!

They both took off.  Beauty landed on pan cam and I found Dot.ca on the base of Mercury.

I moved up to the Broad St Bridge and watched Dot.ca until he took off.  Then I moved up to Falcon Watch Central, which is on Broad St closer to the Times Square Bldg.  From there I had a nice view of the Times Square Bldg and Powers Bldg.

Beauty remained on the TSB pan cam for a long time.

While I was watching Beauty, I was visited by this House Sparrow.  Ok, they’re cute too.  🙂

Dot.ca returned and flew past the TSB, heading west.  Beauty followed.  I found them both on the Widows Walk (WW).  Beauty was on the NW corner and Dot.ca was on the NE corner.

While I was watching Beauty and Dot.ca, I was being watched by a couple of the neighborhood pigeons.

Dot.ca started to walk towards Beauty.  When he reached her, he took off and flew back, attempting to land on her to copulate. It was a near miss.  Dot.ca kept going, heading south.  A few moments later, Beauty followed.  I drove around, trying to find them.  Finally I spotted Dot.ca up on top of the Times Square Bldg on the northeast wing ring.

A jet flew overhead.  I just thought it was cool.  lol

Dot.ca spread his wings and took off.  He flew east towards the river and then returned to the Times Square Bldg, landing below the NE wing.

It had been quite awhile since I had seen Beauty.  Finally she returned and landed on pan cam.  Dot.ca took off and flew directly into the nest box.  There was a bit of vocalization between them.

A few minutes later, Dot.ca flew out of the nest box and landed on top of the Mercury statue.  Beauty remained on pan cam.

Beauty flew towards Mercury and landed on the base, below Dot.ca.

Beauty took off heading south over the river.  She was on the hunt.  All the river pigeons took flight.  They were swirling around while Beauty chased them and stooped on them.  Dot.ca joined her on a tandem hunt.

It was an unsuccessful hunt.  Beauty returned to pan cam and Dot.ca landed above her below the NE wing.

All was quiet and peaceful in our downtown falcons world so I ended my watch to go check on Billie and Seth at Seneca Towers. Sorry to say, I could not find them.

Later in the afternoon fellow watcher Joyce reported seeing both Billie and Seth at Seneca Towers.  Here are her tweets.

5:32 pm – ST- Seth on NW corner railing and Billie on NW corner of roof extension above windows. It’s obvious to tell these two apart!

5:34 pm – ST- from Church driveway saw Seth fly off. Up went Billie’s tail and yippee, saw my first mating of the season. No pics. Just enjoyed view.

So, our two resident pairs were seen today.  Copulation seen at both locations. Spring is definitely in the air!

Oh, and one more thing.  I heard my first Red-winged Blackbirds today!  They’re back!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 6th, 2016 at 7:50 PM and is filed under Falcon Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.